Planting and growing the "Three Sisters"

[BillinOregon]

I didn't quite know where to post this, but am hoping it gets some responses. I would really like to grow a small patch of the "Three Sisters" using heirloom seed with Native American provenance. I have long been intrigued by this, and got further inspiration visiting the old trading post at the Museum of the Fur Trade near Chadron, Nebraska.
The sisters are, of course, corn, climbing beans to climb the corn, and winter squash.
Thinking I will go with the Hidatsa Shield bean: http://www.seedsavers.org/hidatsa-shield-figure-organic-bean
For flint corn for parching, either Seneca Red or Mandan Bride: http://www.seedsavers.org/mandan-bride-organic-corn
And for squash, I am still up in the air. There's a Lakota squash but it doesn't get the best reviews. Anyone else planted the Three Sisters?

 

[Tallswife]

I have grown them but not as was originally done with all three in the same area to cling to each other.

I have grown Lakota squash, and I love it. Great flavor, cooks up beautifully, and gets to be a good size.

I will say that the plants can be pretty touchy to grow. They did great growing in northern AZ, and not so good for me in north east Colorado. They do seem to prefer a richer, less sandy soil than I currently have. They can be water hogs when it gets warm.

 

[BillinOregon]

Ended up going with the Hidatsa Shield bean, Supai Red parching corn and Mayo Blusher winter squash. Look forward to the seeds arriving. I'll probably plant in hills.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

1469488 I think you will I joy the link to a link :wink: http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showpost.php?post/1400436/

 

[BillinOregon]

Thanks Sean. I had missed that thread. I planted a parching corn about 10-15 years ago and really enjoyed it. Hoping all three sisters "take" and produce this summer.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Every time i try to plant the"three sisters" it fails. Productipon is terrible.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

a great link I got from Spence
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden...

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I was taught to stage the planting. You get the corn going well, then the beans go in, and some wait until the beans sprout to plant the squash, some do them at the same time as the beans. So the squash vines shade the root areas to reduce the weeds, but the beans have climbed above the squash vines, so they get sun as they cling to the corn stalks. When tending you make sure the squash stays on the ground and doesn't climb the corn (I was taught).

LD

 

[George]

Just curious, are there authentic descriptions by Native Americans of the beans being planted so they climbed on the corn? The only thing I've ever found from NAs about growing corn, beans and squash is by the Hidatsa, and they don't seem to have done that.

Spence

 

[BillinOregon]

Spence, I will check sources on the Iroquois. The "fourth sister" is often the sunflower, which also provides a climbing trellis.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Yah know that's a pretty good question. I was taught the known heirloom beans were climbers, not bush beans, and perhaps folks took it for granted that they climbed the corn stalks...hmmm...

Seems "obvious" ...but another example of "obvious" ....the English had tea, and had lemons, and they didn't put the two together as a beverage until it was reported as being done in the court of Katherine the Great (or so the story goes).

LD

 

[BillinOregon]

Got seeds. Now if the dang sun would come back out here on the "wet side."

 

[George]

Sun? In Oregon? I didn't know that ever happened. :wink:

We've been having a lot of that famous Oregon liquid sunshine here in Kentucky this spring. We could grow rice in my yard.

Spence

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Now if the dang sun would come back out here on the "wet side."

"..., 'Tis fine Scottish weather madam. The rain is falling straight down..., well,....sorta sideways like." Mel Gibson as William Wallace in Braveheart.

As for the weather in Maryland...., looks like it's gonna be a good rice crop this year. The skeeters and the Zikka virus are both doing quite well.... :shocked2: :haha:

LD

 

[Tallswife]

Growing three sisters

Thought this might answer some of your questions.

 

[BillinOregon]

Tallswife, that's a nice link. I have my corn in, and am waiting to plant beans, then squash.
In reading "Native American Gardening," Buffalobird-Woman shows how the Hidatsa planted the three sisters, along with sunflowers. They were not planted in the same hill.
I have put in nine hills of corn three feet apart in a square, and will interplant beans in couple of weeks. I'll put in the squash nearby, but will have one extra hill of corn where I will try planting the beans and squash in the same hill just to see how the plants interact.

 

[Crewdawg445]

The fact you mentioned the three sisters makes my heart sing!!! :thumbsup: